Healing Lightning
by Densharr
Summary: Lightning is one of the most dangerous bent elements - deadlier than fire, fluid as water, hits as hard as rock. What happens when you don't have any spirit water handy to heal it? Post-Series Zutara, kinda Aang hating... you've been warned.
1. I: Two Years previous

A/N: Yes, I know, I shouldn't start a third story, but it'll help me relieve my writer's block – whenever I try to write A Different Fork at the Crossroads of Destiny (DFCD) or Dancing with Wolves (DW), I keep getting ideas for a post-series Zutara... Just a note: THIS STORY IS NOT A SEQUEL TO DFCD. I'm just going to make that perfectly clear – here, I stayed canon until, well, the story starts. Regardless, if there's any Kataangers reading this, I'd recommend hitting the back button right now – I'm keeping up with Vathara's Zuko fic (Embers, possibly one of the best fanfics out there PERIOD, even though it's not a Zutara), and it makes me feel angry at Aang, so he's not cast in the nicest light here. Sorry, Aang fans. And yes, I know, this seems disorganised – that's because it IS. I've written this in bits and pieces, not more than a paragraph at a time... I promise that I will restore cohesion.

DISCLAIMER: I, in NO way, shape, or form, own Avatar or any of the characters. I merely play with them, as a sort of omnipotent god. They are the sole property of Nickelodeon.

Healing Lightning

Chapter I: Two years previous...

Life was going great for Zuko, for once. His father, the cruel Fire Lord Ozai, had been reduced to a mere shell of a man when the Avatar took his bending away. Zuko was still in shock that the normally goofy 12 year old could DO such a thing. He IS the Avatar, and all, but to take someone's bending away? Zuko thought that he might as well have killed Ozai, and quite a number of other benders, including those from the other nations, agreed. Taking away a bender's powers... it seemed worst than the tortures that the Fire Nation put captured benders through by denying them access to their element. Zuko was walking down the long, ornate corridor to the Grand Balcony musing about this when he was interrupted by the Avatar, Aang. Aang slowly raised his head from where he sat, beside the curtained door to the Balcony, and looked at Zuko. Although Zuko gave the Avatar a warm smile, Aang returned it coldly. With a slight confused frown on his face, Zuko greeted him.

"I can't believe a year ago my purpose in life to hunt you down, and now I consider you my friend. Life has a funny way of changing on us, doesn't it? I mean, a year ago, you were frozen in a block of ice..." Zuko drawled off as he noticed that Aang's face had twisted into an ugly grimace.

"How did you know that?" Aang demanded "By the time you came to the South Pole, I wasn't even in the iceberg anymore."

"Oh, yeah... Katara told me as we were... as we were coming here to face Azula."

"Oh so KATARA told you. What else did she tell you, then, or maybe on your little "field trip"?" Aang said in an accusatory tone, giving Zuko a dirty look.

"Aang, what's wrong with you? Katara and I are just friends. Why does it sound like you're getting jealous? I have Mai." Zuko, trying to reason with the adolescent boy, put a hand on Aang's shoulder.

"I know that's not true, Zuko." Aang said, slapping Zuko's hand off his shoulder. "Why did Katara go with you instead of me for the last battle? Why is she telling you all these stories? Huh?"

Seeing that the Avatar was clearly distraught, the new Fire Lord didn't try to replace his hand, merely looking at him sideways and telling him that they'd "talk about it later – could they just get this ceremony over with?" Zuko parted the curtains, and, without even waiting to see if Aang was behind him, stepped out onto the short hallway beyond the curtain and began his ascent up the stairs to the Grand Balcony. A heartbeat later, Aang rushes from the curtains and airbends himself up the stairs until he right behind Zuko, glaring at the back of the new Fire Lord's head. Zuko could feel the eyes boring into his skull, but, in the name if diplomacy, wisely decided to his best to ignore it. Reaching the Balcony, a fire sage sounded a gong as Zuko made his presence known. Looking out onto the Coronation Plaza, he saw everybody arrayed in 4 equal ranks – running from the waterbenders wearing leaves, the Water Tribe warriors, the Earth Army and his own Fire Nation citizens – and felt a sense of pride and accomplishment: the war was finally over. The crowd erupted into cheering as he walked out, but Zuko held up his hand in signal for silence:

"Please, the real hero" he starts, moving to the side to reveal Aang "is the Avatar. Without him, Ozai would still be ruler of this proud nation. Without him, this alliance would not have been possible."

_What's his motive? Trying to be all humble for MY girlfriend, I'll bet. I know you, Zuko. Just know that Katara is MINE. _ Aang continued glaring at Zuko's head, trying to bore a hole through it.

Unaware of Aang's thoughts, Zuko continued on with his speech. "Today, this war is finally over. I promised my Uncle that I would restore the honour of the Fire Nation, and I will. This, I swear by the very fires of Agni. The road ahead of us is challenging. A hundred years of fighting has left the world scarred and divided. No-one knows who they can turn to, or whop to ask when they need help." With a backhanded gesture to Aang, Zuko continues. "But with the Avatar's help, we can get it back on the right path, and begin a new era of not only peace, but of wisdom and stability"

At this point, Zuko kneels down onto his knees as Shyu, the new Head Fire Sage (on Aang's recommendation) held the Royal Headpiece high above Zuko's head.

_He looks every inch the ruler_. Katara thought, looking on in pride. _He's worked so hard for this, he deserves it. _

Hakoda, standing beside his daughter, looked at the look in his daughter's eyes as she looked at the young ruler-to-be. He wondered where he remembered that look from, but couldn't recall. He shrugged – if it was important, he was sure that he'd remember it _eventually_...

On the balcony, Shyu readied himself for the end of the ceremony. "All hail your new Fire Lord, blood of Agni and the wielder of the sacred flame, Fire Lord Zuko! " With that, he lowered his arms and inserted the amber-coloured diadem into Zuko's topknot. He bows, and, keeping his head lowered as a sign of respect, backs away from his newly crowned lord.

The crowd beneath them cheers wildly as Zuko stands and gestures for the Avatar to join him.

--- --- --- oOo --- --- ---

Hours later, Zuko is alone, and walking swiftly on a rough mountain path on the edges of the Crater district of the Fire Nation Capital. He eventually makes his way to the Huan Shi Tong Prison, the prison of choice for politically dangerous prisoners, or prisoners who managed to bargain their way out of the Boiling Rock. The irony is not lost on Zuko – When Ozai declared Iroh a traitor to the Dragon Throne (Zuko intended to rename it the Phoenix Throne, to symbolise the rebirth of the Fire Nation after a century of war), Iroh was tossed in here, and now that Ozai was the traitor, he was tossed in the exact same cell. With a grim chuckle, he arrived at the heavy steel and stone doors of the prison.

The guards, recognizing the visitor, immediately set to opening the doors for the young man, one or two of them recognizing him as the same person who snuck in to see the Dragon of the West when he was incarcerated here. As Zuko walked the halls to Ozai's cell, he was overcome with memories of the last time he had been here, on the Day of Black Sun, to break his uncle out of prison, only to discover that he had, in fact, already broken out. Sooner than he realised it, he arrived at the cell door. With a deep breath, he pushed the door open and entered the small room.

Against the wall of the small cell sat Ozai. Even though it had only been a day or two since his defeat and the loss of his bending, you could see it in his eyes that he was a mere shell of the powerful bender that he once was. He was dressed in dishevelled rags, and his hair was stringy and dirty. Zuko had taken little care to hide himself in the shadows, so he wasn't very surprised when Ozai suddenly spoke.

"I suppose that I should count myself lucky. The new Fire Lord has graced me with his presence in my lonely prison cell." Ozai stood, leaning heavily against the wall as he spread his arm to indicate his cell.

"You should count yourself lucky that the Avatar spared your life." At this, Ozai smirked and sat back down heavily against the wall. "Banishing me was the best thing you could have done for my life. It put me on the right path; perhaps your time in here can do the same for you." Zuko looked on at the pathetic human that he had once considered invulnerable, and felt a tiny twinge of sadness. It quickly dissipated, however, when he reached up to brush his hair out of his eyes and his fingers traced against his scar.

"Why are you really here , traitor son?" Ozai drawled, knowing that Zuko wasn't the type to come down and brag. No, he was too much of a "good guy" to do that.

"Because you are going to tell me something, Ozai." Not Father, not to this man. Fathers don't scar their children. Fathers don't banish their children at the age of 13. But most of all, fathers love their children, something that Ozai couldn't claim. Iroh had been more of a father to Zuko in the past three years than Ozai had in Zuko's entire life. Zuko kneeled down, so he could look Ozai straight in the eye. "Where is my mother ?"

Ozai got a strange light in his eye, almost a deranged look, and started laughing.

--- --- --- oOo --- --- ---

Closing A/N: And that's chapter one. I hope to post the second chapter in the next couple days, providing that my fickle muse doesn't abandon this story, and make me work on another story (though SOME people would definitely enjoy that). Anybody got any ideas for the name of the Fire Nation Capital? I heard a good one once; it meant something like City of Morning Dawn... I'd appreciate it, and they'll get credit in all my stories that mention it.


	2. II: Present Day

A/N: I'm Canadian, so if some of these spellings seem a little off to you... well, they are, but its right over here, okay? Also, this is what happens, kids, when you try to force your muse. Payback's a b*tch, and her name is ______(insert name of muse here).

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Avatar. Bryke does, and us Zutarians only call him that when we AREN'T mad at him. This is rare. Okay, closer to never. I mean come ON, Zutara all but happened. ...damn you, Bryke...

Healing Lightning

Chapter II: Present Day

Two years. It had been two years since the Avatar saved the world, and two years since Zuko's life had fallen from a semblance of normality to being consumed in a fiery blaze. Not long after his coronation, the Fire Nation council, by unanimous vote, had forced Zuko to cede the Phoenix Throne to Iroh until he "matured" to the age of ascension, in other words, 21 summers.

Iroh fought this, of course, but he eventually relented, but only when they threatened to put Ozai's top remaining general, General Tsao, as Fire Lord Regent. General Tsao, long ago, had been the general on the War Council that had suggested sacrificing the new division to distract the earthbenders before Zuko interrupted him. Iroh couldn't let that happen – it'd be tantamount to starting the war all over again.

In the years that followed, Iroh had made many reforms to the Fire Nation, such as slowly dismantling the army and navy, and putting the soldiers to work elsewhere. The Fire Nation now has the largest and most experienced merchant fleet in the world, and its economy, while not healthy, is certainly well on the road to recovery. Iroh resurrected many of the traditions that Ozai and the previous rulers did away with, and raised the minimum age of Agni Kai from 13 to 16 summers.

Zuko's life had been relatively unchanged from after he returned home from Ba Sing Se with Azula – everyday, he trained, had lessons for his imminent crowning the summer after next, and sat at his uncle's right hand for many meetings, learning Fire Nation politics firsthand. For the first year after the war ended, he had visited Azula in her secure cell nearly every day. The biggest change in his life for the first year after the war ended (besides being forced from the throne) was breaking off his relationship with Mai.

He had found her and one of his personal guards in his chambers one night when he got back from visiting Ba Sing Se on official business. He had arrived home a day early, and found his chambers to already been lit. He thought that Mai had prepared a "surprise" for him, and he was certainly not disappointed. He could still remember that night as if it was yesterday – after that, all his personal guards were either married or celibate firebenders.

--- --- --- oOo --- --- ---

Not long after that, he finally managed to get through to Azula. He managed to get through the wall of insanity that she had erected around herself to shield herself from the pain of being betrayed by everything and everyone that she knew. He told her that even though she had tried to kill him, she was still his sister, and he loved her. He told her about that day, when Team Avatar had been forced to evacuate the Western Air Temple, and she had almost died before she managed to save herself. He told her how he had felt his heart plummet with her when he thought she was going to die, and he realised that he would miss her if she was gone. Of course, when she saved herself a second later, he realised that she wasn't going to die that easily, but the realisation stayed with him.

He continued to visit her, despite her outbursts and insults, and he eventually got through to her. Fourteen months after the war ended, he managed to convince Iroh to release her from the facility into his care. Iroh agreed, on the condition that her release would be a matter of national security – if word got out that she was free, there's no telling what could happen.

So Zuko became her constant companion, and eventually, she swore her loyalty to him. Since it couldn't become common knowledge that she had been freed (until Iroh and Zuko agreed it was the right time to tell the world), she practiced her firebending with Zuko and Iroh only. Zuko became her constant sparring partner, and while he still couldn't bend lightning, the time it took her to gather the energies necessary was more than enough time for him to ready himself to redirect it. As time passed, it became evident that he was at least her equal in power – in fact; he might have had a slight edge, because in his time spent with Team Avatar, he had learned the basics of other bending disciples: Incorporating fire whips, fire walls and other techniques from waterbending, and solidifying his stance and forming fireballs from earthbending.

--- --- --- oOo --- --- ---

It had been three months since Azula had started sparring with Zuko. Her infamous blue fire had cooled somewhat and now Zuko could see the occasional flicker of orange red in her fire blasts. It was in a training courtyard off the main armoury that they were sparring today, and Azula was currently winning.

"Oh, Zuzu, you'll have to do much better than that if you want to beat me." Azula taunted as she threw a blast of blue flame at him. Azula never missed the chance to taunt Zuko, though now it was meant more as good natured teasing than for actual harm. Zuko dismissed the blast with a short burst of his own, then jumping and kicking a wide wave of his own fire right back at her. Azula propelled herself over the blast, not even bothering to diffuse it, and somersaulted in midair, bringing a tendril of flame from over her shoulder and directing it with her leg, as if swatting an annoying fly.

Raising his arms above his head, Zuko brought them to his sides abruptly as the blast reached him, diffusing it with a globe of fire surrounding him. For a split second, as his arms fell to his sides, Zuko allowed himself to be distracted by the flickers of the flame as it completely encircled him. _Wait... was that WHITE flame, flickering around the edges of my flame? _

In that spilt second, however, Azula had reached the ground and was using her firebending to charge at him, propelling herself with one hand as her other formed a small ball of fire, ready to blast Zuko. The second his shield dissipated, she let loose with her blast. Zuko immediately dropped, the fire singing his bangs, and twirled in a circle as he stood up, releasing a devastating counterattack. The blast caught Azula unawares, and with her momentum, flipped directly over the blast and hit her back, momentarily losing her breath. But that was all the time that Zuko needed. As soon as he had released the blast, he had begun running for her, intending on finishing this fight. Just as Azula was beginning to get up, a dagger of red flame, edged in white, appeared at her throat.

"Yield, Azula." Her brother's strong, newly authoritative voice reached her ears. Just as she was about to open her mouth to form her response, a slow clapping was suddenly heard and both Azula and Zuko, standing over her prone form, turned to the source of the clapping.

"Fire Lord" they responded immediately, Zuko letting her get up as they bowed simultaneously to Iroh as he emerged from his "hiding place" among the arches lining the courtyard. He must have just come out from a meeting – he was still draped in the traditional robes of the Fire Lord, and his diadem was still tucked neatly into his small topknot.

"Very good, nephew. Your skills have improved immensely." Iroh said with a twinkle in his eye. For the past 5 years, he had all but adopted Zuko and had literally adopted him after Ozai disowned him while he was in prison, and he was forced to cede his throne. Iroh wanted no contestation as to who would rule the Fire Nation after him – although Azula was newly loyal to Zuko, he still didn't trust her on the throne – her loyalty was to Zuko, not to the rest of the world. "Shall we begin our lesson? Azula, you are dismissed."

At this, Zuko perked up. There was only one reason why Uncle would dismiss Azula: if he was teaching a technique that she had already mastered. With a slightly mocking bow, Azula left the courtyard in search of Ty Lee.

"Today, I shall teach you how to summon the cold fire, nephew. Your control of your inner fire has been remarkable these past few months, and your mind has quieted greatly. Running through the basics of lightning bending with Zuko again, Iroh showed him how he had to make the circular motions while simultaneously separating the yin and yang chi from his energies.

Clearing his mind of all distractions, Zuko envisioned the one place where he was at peace – in the Royal Gardens, sitting on the edge of the turtle-duck pond. As he let all emotions flow from him as water flows down the small waterfall to fill the pond, he felt at peace. At the edges of his consciousness, he felt a slight prickling forming and the occasional blue-white flash from behind his closed eyelids. Moving his arms in a fashion eerily reminiscent of waterbending, a pair of blue eyes, bluer even than the sky after a storm, opened in his mind. Distracted by the beauty of the eyes, he let his mind wander as he stood, entranced, by the beauty of the eyes. It was with a start that he realised that he recognized the eyes. _Katara?...._ Faintly, he heard his uncle screaming his name, but before he could respond, a blaze of burning cold shot through him and darkness engulfed him. The last thing he saw before he knew no more was a single tear dripping out of the blue eyes.

--- --- --- oOo --- --- ---

As Iroh looked on as Zuko prepared to bend lightning, he could sense the distinct growing sensation of static electricity in the air. Just as most benders could sense their element in near proximities, he had been bending lightning for so long that he could literally sense the charge growing around his favourite nephew. He smiled as the charge continued to grow, keeping a close eye on the energies in case something went wrong. Just as Zuko was moving his arms in the final passes and electricity was beginning to trail from his fingertips, a furrow appeared in Zuko's brow and the lightning started to go out of control.

Dodging a stray bolt, Iroh leapt towards his nephew, intent on grabbing his hand and redirecting it himself, when a flash of blue-white light blinded him. Seconds later, when his vision returned to him, he looked on, horrified, as his nephew lay on the ground, his chest smoking and blood spatter on the ground surrounding him. As he called for servants to get the healers, he dropped to his knees and took off his outer robes in an attempt to staunch the wound; he heard his nephew gasp out a single word before his heart slowed than stopped.

"_Katara...."_

--- --- --- oOo --- --- ---

Maraka was just returning to the Northern Water Tribe's diplomatic lounge in the palace when she heard a servant run by, screaming for a healer in the Royal Courtyard. Shedding her outer robes, the tall brunette began to run to the Royal Wing. As she ran towards the Wing, she nearly bowled over another servant, carrying robes from the Fire Princess Azula's room to the laundry. Grabbing the servant, she nearly yelled at the slight female.

"Quickly, which way to the Royal Courtyard? Someone's been injured, and I'm a healer!"

The servant, shocked at the news that the tribeswoman had told her, shakily pointed down a corridor. Giving her a firm nod, Maraka ran down the hall, her light under-robes flying behind her as she ran. Arriving at the archway to the courtyard, she was shocked with what she saw. The Fire Lord, sitting on his knees, with tears in his eyes, knelt over the body of the Crown Prince, whose smoking chest filled the air with a pungent smell. Ignoring all societal rules, she runs to them and bends some water out of a nearby fountain.

"Fire Lord, is there anything that I can do to help? I'm a healer" Maraka's desperate voice reached Iroh's ears, and he realised that they had a strong Water Tribe accent. Looking up through tear-stained eyes, Iroh managed to croak out "His heart.... it's stopped. You can't do anything."

With one of her hands gloved in water, she raised the other to her mouth in shock. "No...." Thinking back to her classes on chi healing, she thought of something. "Lord Iroh, can you still generate the cold-blooded fire?"

Seeing the direction in which her thoughts were going, Iroh wiped at his tears. "Yes... that might just work. But I'd need to direct the force extremely carefully...."

"Just give me the smallest charge that you can, and we'll work our way up, if necessary" Maraka said as she enclosed Zuko's torso in water. Iroh laid a hand on the water surrounding Zuko, and, waving his one hand in a circle, generated a miniature spark of lightning and directed it into the water. Zuko's chest jerked up, and fell down. Maraka plunged her hands into the water as soon as the electricity stopped dancing through it, and felt for a pulse of life in the increasingly rose-tinted water. Feeling nothing, she nodded to Iroh. "Again". With a nod, he generated a slightly larger spark and directed it into the water. This time, when Zuko's chest jerked, it began to keep moving a bit. Instantly plunging her hands in, biting her lip to ignore the pain of the residual lightning, she felt around for a pulse... and found one. "We have him!" she cried, and focused all her energies into healing his chest, making the rose-coloured glow a pure blue. Before she sank into a healing trance, she told Iroh to send word to the Northern Water Tribe delegation and bring back any other healers.

With a grateful nod, Iroh began weeping again, this time in joy. "Anything that you want, anything at all, consider it yours, dear lady" Maraka nodded half-heartedly, not even paying attention to the mighty Fire Lord as she tried to stabilise the seriously wounded Crown Prince.

--- --- --- oOo --- --- ---

A few hours later, Iroh looked on as a Northern Water Tribe ship left with four waterbenders propelling it with all speed out of the Gates of Azulon. As he leaned heavily on the balcony, he heard a deep voice, tinged with a slight Northern Water Tribe accent, behind him. "If he can make it to the Northern Tribe, he'll survive. We have the best healers in the world there. Tui and La willing, he'll make it there. Maraka is one of our most skilled healers – if it had been someone else who found him, he might not have even made it this far." Iroh turned and looked into the familiar bearded face of Amaguq, the lead ambassador for the Northern Water Tribes, and a very skilled Pai Sho player. Amaguq was a fellow member of the Order of the White Lotus, as well. In fact, all the major delegates in the Fire Nation were members of the Order, to ensure that all agreements were made in the name of true global peace. As Iroh watch the ship sail off into the distance, his hopes went with the boy who could very well hold the fate of the world in his hands.

--- --- --- oOo --- --- ---

A/N: I'm really not happy with how this chapter turned out... I'll probably go back and rewrite it later... but I had to get out the reason for the title of this fic. This is pretty much just puked out (the first part, at least), so I welcome criticisms. I'm actually kinda proud of the second half, strangely enough. I couldn't really think of a good place to end this, so I ended it here. In between this chater and the next, all that happens is that Zuko manages to get to the NWT. I really didn't want to make a chapter about that, so... Also, Maraka and Amaguq are MY OCs. Maraka just sounds Water Tribe (to me, at least), and Amaguq means "Father Wolf" in Inuktitut.


	3. III: Arrival at the Northern Water Tribe

A/N: Hey y'all. This chapter is dedicated to Written Parody, Whiskey2011, and Holly Short (of the LEPrecon (and I am loving the Artemis Fowl reference)), who (somehow) managed to motivate me to write this chapter up. Thank you everybody who's reviewed this, and my other stories. A special thank you to AnnaAza, who volunteered to spell/grammar check my stuff. You should check her stuff out!

DISCLAIMER: I, in no way, shape, or form, own Avatar or the world. I own only my original OCs and the plot of this FANfiction.

Healing Lightning

Chapter III: Arrival at the Northern Water Tribe

14 months. Katara sighed as she realised that this was the first day of her fourteenth month in the Northern Water Tribe. She had come to her sister tribe with Gran Gran and Master Pakku when her grandmother's health had deteriorated, and Pakku had insisted that she return to her native tribe. After coercion not only from her old flame, but from her son-in-law as well, she eventually acquiesced. Pakku had suggested that Katara come along, as well. Although the Southern Water Tribe could use her help in the reconstruction, she remembered one of General Iroh's favourite teachings: _One can never learn all that there is to bending. Never turn away the chance to learn something new._ Keeping that maxim in mind, she agreed eagerly with Pakku's suggestion.

So now she found herself in the healing huts, studying directly under Full Moon Yugoda, arguably the most knowledgeable healer in the world. When she had come here more than two years ago, before the Siege of the North, she had only given Yugoda's teachings a half-hearted listen. She had been so... _angry_ at the fact that Pakku had dismissed her as a bender because of her gender that she had almost completely ignored Yugoda's wisdom. She now realised how lucky the Gaang had been – aside from Aang's lightning injury that she had used the Spirit Water on, the only truly serious wound that they had gotten had been...

_Zuko_.

At the thought of his name, a slow heat slowly crept up into her face. Even after nearly two years without contact, the scarred boy still had this effect on her. She still wondered why Zuko had cut off contact from her – she had received a single letter from him at the Southern Pole, but after that, she hadn't received any. She had tried to send him missives, but he never replied. After a year, she stopped mailing him ever couple weeks and slowed to one every two or three months. She didn't know why she continued to mail him despite the lack of answer, but it just felt like the right thing to do. Her family had been mildly concerned, so after the first year she stopped telling them about the letters that she wrote. The only person that she told was also the only person who really didn't like her writing them... Aang.

Aang was a touchy matter with her right now. After the war, he had announced her as his girlfriend, and had stayed with her for a couple of months after the war in the Southern Pole, and they had ridden penguins, and life had been great. He was the perfect boyfriend, attentive when needed, knowing when to back off, and all around great. But eventually, his Avatar duties couldn't be put off forever, and he left the South Pole after four months. Since then, she was lucky if she saw him twice in a year. The Northern Water Tribes were kind of out of the way, and his duties tended to keep him in the Earth Kingdoms. And even when he did see her, it was always when it was convenient to him. He had missed their anniversary both times that it had rolled around, and had missed Katara's sixteenth birthday. The rare chances that she did get to see him however, always followed a set formula: first, they would be overjoyed to see each other again. Then they would gradually cool, and by the time that he left again, she was usually unhappy, or even angry, with him. They could still talk about anything, except one thing.

Him. Zuko. Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, and his own firebending sifu.

Whenever the subject of Zuko came up... it was almost as if he was a different person. He became almost frighteningly intense; acting nearly... well; _jealous_ was the best word that Katara could come up with. But there was nothing going on between her and Zuko... was there?

- - - oOo - - -

"Hoist the mainsail! Tie down those crates!" Captain Sinaaq of the _Atka_ called out over the deck of the small ship. There was a storm coming, and he hoped to make port at the Northern Tribe before he could get caught in it. From his years of experience sailing the waves, he knew that the Great Iceberg was just over the horizon, but there was a storm coming up fast on his starboard side. As the wind was whipping through his beaded greying hair, he heard a woman's voice.

"Captain, I implore you to hurry. My patient is barely stable as-is, and with the rocking motion of the storm... we can't risk it. Please... I can't let him die." He turned and saw Maraka emerge from the shadows as she spoke. She had dark creases beneath her eyes and her skin was a good two or three shades lighter than it usually appeared.

"Tui and La, woman! Haven't you slept since we've left the capital?"

With a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, she managed to force out an answer. "Barely, Captain. Kinapak's barely gotten her Crescent Moon certification. I couldn't leave her alone with a wound of this significance. Frankly, I'd like to talk to the healer that healed his chest in the first place- they did a terrible job. It's a miracle that his wound hadn't re-opened before now."

Rolling his eyes, the Captain mutter under his breath "Women..." but before Maraka could call him out on it; he cupped his hands to his face and started barking orders. "Waterbenders! To me! We've got to make port before the storm catches us! If we don't, then the Healer here will have your hides!" The crew, which had suffered the woman's sharp tongue and almost fierce protectiveness of her patient, hurriedly took up their positions, with the three male Waterbenders taking up position on the sides of the boat. Settling into the last position himself, he signalled to Maniitok, one of the non-benders aboard, to start beating out a rhythm. With a nod, Maniitok started beating out a simple three beat chorus on the sealskin drum.

- - - oOo - - -

Meanwhile, Maraka had gone back below deck to check on her patient. She smiled as she saw Kinapak reading her medical texts while keeping a somewhat tentative eye on Zuko. Her smile, however, shrank when she saw a looming figure in the corner of the room, smoking a firestick, filling the room with a smoky scent. The slight glow from the burning tip illuminated a narrow face with piercing orange eyes. The tall, silent Fire Nation guard that Iroh had sent along as an escort. Claiming that the Crown Prince couldn't possibly travel without at least a single escort, the Fire Lord had pushed this Imperial Guard on her.

Hanzu. He had initially been feared as one of the most lethal men under General Iroh's command when he was waging his campaign against Ba Sing Se, and had nearly been picked out as a member of the Rough Rhinos, but now served as the Crown Prince's personal bodyguard and confidant. He looked as dangerous now as he did all those years ago: a deadly naginata was leaned against the wall beside him, and attached to his belt were his matched weapons, his katana and wakizashi. She knew that although he was a Firebender of little strength, he more than made up for it with his weapon skills and his skill with the short bow hidden in his pack. Despite whatever her... personal relationship to the bodyguard was, she didn't appreciate not being trusted, although she could understand the Fire Lord's worries. Forcing her eyes from the tall warrior, she looked down at her patient.

The Prince didn't look much different than he had when they brought him aboard: He would always have the original star-shaped scar, but now he had a few smaller one scattered around it from where the lightning had arced in between his hands and chest. His face was pale, but darker than it had been immediately following his injury. As she thought about the scene, however, her smile fell into a frown. Stepping into the small room, she began her lecture. "Kinapak, what did the Prince's original healer do wrong?"

Screwing her face up, the young Waterbender tried to come up with an answer that would be suitable to her sometimes formidable mentor. "Ummm... they just healed it and left it at that?"

With a nod of her head, Maraka began to smile. "That's exactly right. Although our gift is great and powerful, it is not without its weaknesses. Whoever healed it did have a large amount of raw ability, but little to no training in _using_ her gift to heal. Waterbending's ability to heal is limited mostly to immediate tissue damage. It can't heal broken bones, nor does it restore chi. At least, not in a single treatment. This sort of wound... if it's been a water tribesman, he wouldn't have been let out of the infirmary for a month, and would have still had lingering treatments for another month after that to fully repair his chi flow."

"Ladies!" The two healers looked out the door to the short corridor leading up to the deck. "The Wall is in sight! We're going to beat the storm, no worries. Your patient will be fine." With a sigh of relief, the two Waterbenders and the Firebender began to prepare Zuko to be moved.

- - - oOo - - -

Katara was standing on the edges of the main entry canal when the _Atka_ entered through the gates. She had just finished today's lessons with Master Yugoda and had gone to run a short errand before she returned to her quarters in the Palace's eastern wing. She saw the ship entering the city, and before she could investigate why Ambassador Amaguq's personal ship was returning ahead of schedule, she heard a drawling voice behind her calling her name. Briefly clenching her fist, she forced a smile upon her face and turned to face the source of the voice.

"Hello, Hahn. How are you doing this fine day?"

"Well, the scenery just improved when I realised that it was you, Master Katara." Although the words were polite, the tone was condescending, mocking almost. "You look beautiful today."

"What do you want, Hahn? I'm in the middle of something, and I'd appreciate being left alone right now."

"Why so cold, Waterbender? I'm just trying to be friendly." Hahn spread his arms out in a placating manner, trying to disarm Katara with his charm.

"You never talk to me unless you want something, Hahn. Last time, it was to put in a good word for you with Chief Arnook. The time before that, you wanted me to talk you up to that one junior healer, Kinapak, was it? What is it this time?"

"It's nothing really... it's just the fact that you've recently turned sixteen"

"So? What's your point, Hahn?"

"Well, you're not in the Southern Tribes anymore, princess. In the North, girls are engaged by the time of their sixteenth birthday. The Avatar doesn't look like he'll propose anytime soon, and not one of the other unmarried men can handle you."

"Where are you going with this, Hahn?" Katara asked, even though she was getting a sinking feeling that she knew _exactly_ what he was talking about.

"Well, Katara, seeing as how you're not spoken for, and I haven't chosen a woman yet..."

"Absolutely not, Hahn. Not even if you were the last man on earth. I'd sooner marry a Firebender than marry you. You only want me so that you can get in good with Arnook and Pakku." Katara threw up her arms in disgust and stomped off.

"Just think about it Katara: no other man in the Northern Tribe will take you, and apparently there's a shortage of available Firebenders for you to choose from. Remember a woman's place, Katara. Every woman needs a man to take care of h-"

Hahn was cut off by a drift of snow that just _happened_ to fly six feet through the air and slammed him into the ground, spontaneously freezing him in place.

"Katara, come on, let me out!" Hahn yelled at her rapidly disappearing figure. As she turned the corner, he realised that she wasn't coming back to help him. "Katara? Anyone?"

- - - oOo - - -

As Katara entered the building at the end of the street, she was overcome by the smell of feathers and smoke. She smiled as she saw a man with nearly snow white hair facing the opposite wall, tending to one of the Northern Tribe's specially bred dragonhawks. Instead of the normal bold red and tan plumage, these birds sported a blue and tan color scheme. As she opened the door fully, a small bell rang out and the shopkeeper turned towards Katara.

"Why, hello there, dear. Another letter for your Fire Nation friend?" Hiroshi, one of the only Fire Nation citizens to brave enough to live in the Northern Tribes year-round, was an expert falconer and had worked extensively in the Southern Polar region prior to the war ending, trying to develop a hardier breed of dragonhawk. The end result, although slower, was the perfect way to keep to Water Tribes in easy communication with the rest of the world. Fire Lord Iroh himself had given Hiroshi this promotion, and, as a result, he got to continue doing what he enjoyed best: breeding dragonhawks.

"Yes, please. Is Razor available?" Katara asked sweetly, holding her message in one of the small scroll containers. Razor was one of her favourite birds, because she always rubbed her head against Katara's shoulder while Katara held her. Nobody knew that she mailed Zuko: Hiroshi knew that she was corresponding with someone in the Fire Nation, but he had no idea who.

"For you, Miss Katara, she certainly is. She doesn't seem t like anybody else besides us, for some reason. Here you go." Handing her a thick komodo-rhino leather falconer's glove, she put it on while Hiroshi opened Razor's cage. With a short whistle from Katara, she flew straight from the cage onto her extended arm. Katara whispered sweet nothings into the dragonhawk's ear as she attached the scroll case to her back. Turning and walking a handful of steps, she opened and door and whispered a name to the bird before it flew off, heading south-west, off towards the Fire Nation Capital.

_Zuko..._

- - - oOo - - -

On the edges of the great city, on top of the wall, a sole figure watched the hawk approach. Settling into a waterbending stance, the figure shot a bolt of water at the hawk, grabbing it and freezing it solid. Catching it as it fell, the figure quickly bent the water away and, at the same time, took the scroll out of the container.

"Keep them out of contact, you say. Hard to do without being caught, but it'll be well worth it." With a slightly sinister smile, the figure threw the dragonhawk back into the air and watched it continue on its way towards the Fire Nation.

"Serving the Avatar has all sorts of job perks to it"

- - - oOo - - -

Closing A/N: Yes, Hahn lives. In case you didn't know, a naginata is like a glaive, or like the elves' spears in LOTR. I've never liked the explanation about Zuko's wound... I mean, it was not only life threatening, like Aang's wound, but she didn't even have Spirit Water. Also, how lucky WERE they that they never once got seriously injured? That's another thing that I hate – Katara got NO training, and yet she's always depicted as an awesome-uber healer. I think that healing is more like learning bending rather than a specific subset, like... lightning. Once you have it, you have lightning. But healing... that's something that should be LEARNED, with hard study, in my opinion.


	4. III: A Warm Welcome

A/N: First off, you guys rock. That last chapter TRIPLED the amount of reviews that this story has (from 3 to 9). A Lock is the area in a canal that separates higher and lower water levels, like the NWT in the Waterbending Master. This chapter is dedicated to AnnaAza (this was checked over by my avatar buddy), who will have a new chapter on this story at least when she returns from vacation! My profile FINALLY has something on it (Apparently, FF doesn't support Opera (my internet browser) when it comes to altering my profile. I finally broke down and used Internet Explorer)

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Avatar. But I DO own the right to call up my friend's favour and make them wait with me for the premiere of The Last Airbender at our local theatre...

Healing Lightning

Chapter IV: A Warm Welcome to the Coldest City in the World

Captain Sinaaq looked up at the Waterbenders all around the lock that separated the waterways of the Northern Water Tribe from the much lower arctic waters that flowed on the other side of the wall. A familiar smile stretched his weathered face as he watched the Waterbenders on the wall lower the lock's walls and raise the water level. He himself had once manned these very gates: that's what happened when you disobeyed Master Pakku's instructions. _"Builds character and endurance"_ Pakku had said. Maraka had come up onto the deck and was whispering instructions to Maniitok. The young drummer and sailor nodded and managed to conceal his blush until the woman had walked back towards the hold. As he pounded out the emergency medical call, the captain looked away and rolled his eyes. If he was correct, and he found that was usually in this matter, the healer had _something_ going on with that Fire Nation bodyguard.

- - - oOo - - -

Yugoda smiled as she worked with the newest batch of female Waterbenders. She could tell already that many of them would never pass the rank of Quarter Moon, even if they trained hard all their lives. Healing required a certain amount of inborn talent, and many of these girls simply didn't have it. But that wasn't the reason that she was smiling. She smiled because these girls would not have to grow up with the fear of war hanging over their heads. Even some of the older girls barely remember that terrible day that the Fire Nation attacked and the moon went dark. Holding thumb to thumb and middle fingers together, she made the sign of the full moon over her heart. Thank Tui and La for Yue... brave girl. She continued watching the girls hover over the dummy as one of the older students took her turn tracing the chi meridians of the body when Kirima came up to her and whispered into her ear.

"Come to the lock. Maraka is calling for you. She has an injured... and she wants you to take a look at him."

Nodding to the woman, Yugoda asked her to stay and supervise her class while she went and took a look. With a genuine smile, the younger, wide hipped healer sat down on Yugoda's mat after she got up and quickly corrected the young Waterbender who had incorrectly identified the sacral chakra.

- - - oOo - - -

Katara finally arrived in the Royal Palace after her stop at the falconry. She wandered through the mostly empty halls – they were supposed to be filled by the royal family, but after the death of Yue, Arnook's sole child, things had quieted down significantly. _Nothing at all like the hustle of the Fire Nation Palace..._ Damn it. She really had to stop thinking of Zuko. How did everything lead back to him? She hadn't even seen him since briefly seeing him at the annual gathering of the Council of Elements last year, and that had only been before Aang had pulled her in the opposite direction to talk with King Bumi. And he hadn't even replied to any of her letters, either. Why was he always so prevalent in her mind?

- - - oOo - - -

Arnook shook his head at the young man in front of him. For the third time this week, Hahn had come to him in the hopes that he could, for lack of a better word, force Katara to marry him. He was arguing that since Katara was living here, and had been for over a year while obeying all traditional rules that govern women, that she was given Northern Water Tribe membership, and was therefore subject to all their rules... including the ones that stated that who she would marry.

Hahn argued that since Arnook was Chieftain of the Tribe, he could act as Katara's guardian and give him permission to marry her. Arnook knew that Hahn was technically correct, but his eyes had been opened by how quickly Hahn had moved on to flirting with other girls after Yue's... death. After that, he swore to himself that he would keep an eye on this young man. He didn't want to subject Katara to Hahn's advances, but unless something happened, he would have to give into his demands. Hahn's family was a major player in the politics of the North Pole, and he couldn't afford to alienate any of the nobles, especially because he had yet to name an heir.

"Great chieftain, we both know that you are delaying the inevitable. I desire to make Katara my wife, and you cannot afford to alienate my family." Arnook was snapped back to attention at these words. Is he reading my mind? No, he's just given this as much thought as you have.

"Hahn, you know that the customs are different, and although she could technically be considered a citizen, I fear that I cannot in good conscious agree to this. Her father is still alive, and, even if he was dead, her master has a larger claim to the guardian role than I do."

"So, what you're saying is that if I can convince Master Pakku to give me permission to wed her, I can make her mine?" Hahn's eyes gleamed at the loophole that the older man had given him.

"Wait, that's..." Arnook tried to take back what he said, but Hahn had already turned to leave. Sighing with despair, he suddenly had a thought and smiled as his honour guard gave him strange looks. Why was he smiling when it looked, in all appearances that Hahn had won? Then the guards remembered one vital fact.

_Pakku absolutely _hates_ Hahn._

- - - oOo - - -

Katara awoke the next feeling refreshed and unusually happy. _I wonder why I feel so happy? Today's just another day, far as I remember._ Shrugging aside the odd feeling, she continued down out of the palace towards Yugoda's healing hut. She had private healing lessons with Yugoda every other day or so. She told Katara that she had enormous potential as a healer – in fact, she had almost as much potential as she herself did. Katara remembered how she had flushed in embarrassment at that comment. She had almost run into a fisherman before she realised that she had nearly reached her destination. Ducking into Yugoda's healing hut, she was shocked to see Kirima on the mat in front of the chi doll, not Yugoda.

"Ummm... Quarter Moon Kirima? Is Full Moon Yugoda here? I usually have private lessons with her right now, so..."

Giving the younger Waterbender a soft smile, Kirima told her that Yugoda had a special case to deal with.

"Special case? What do you mean that she has a special case?"

"Well, Maraka brought in a patient from the Fire Nation" Kirima said with a slight frown. "It must have been pretty serious for Maraka to have to bring it back here. I mean, she's a Gibbous Moon Healer, and also Yugoda's heir."

As Kirima mentioned that the patient was from the Fire Nation, Katara's heart dropped right down into her stomach_. It's serious... Zuko..._ Shaking her head she turned on Kirima. "Where is Yugoda, Kirima? Maybe I can help." It can't possibly be Zuko. _I mean, he's the Crown Prince. There must be some sort of security, or something... he couldn't have been hurt._

With a kindly smile, the woman nodded. "Maybe you can. She's off in the long term care huts." As Katara ran off, the woman called off after her. "I've heard that he's quite the looker, our new patient is..."

- - - oOo - - -

Yugoda walked up to her newest patient for the first time this morning. _Still in a coma_. Laying a hand on the young Firebender's forehead, she ignored the glower that came from the man standing in the corner. He had tried to continue smoking his filthy firesticks in here, but Yugoda had "convinced" him otherwise. So now Hanzu merely stared at her, ready to intervene if the prince showed any signs that he didn't want the healer near him. He started as another woman entered the room._ Oh. It was_ her. _That water... witch. _

Maraka easily returned the glare that the firebender was giving her. _Two can play at that game, firebender._ Especially _after what you did..._ Putting a fake smile on her face, she greeted Yugoda warmly. Just after she started to catch Yugoda up on everything that she hadn't had time to tell the old lady yesterday, someone else burst through the door.

Hanzu muttered under his breath. "Great, just what we need – _another_ waterbender." The new waterbender hadn't heard him, but Maraka had, judging by the look that she gave him as the other waterbender rushed to the Prince. He made as if to step towards her, but Maraka subtly froze his feet to the floor. Before he could bend down and melt the ice off, the girl had reached the Prince.

Katara hadn't known what to expect when she reached the long term care facilities. She hoped with every fibre of her being that it wasn't Zuko, but in her heart she knew that it was. When she finally burst through the door, and saw his strong jaw and his raven black hair, she nearly burst out into tears. Zuko... A single tear escaped her eye as she kneeled down next to the pallet that he was on. She never even noticed that there was other people in the room as her hands shook as she cupped the scarred side of Zuko's face. It was only when she heard a woman clearing her throat that she noticed that her and Zuko weren't alone. Whipping her head around, she gave a shallow, yet formal bow to both Maraka and Yugoda in turn. Turning to the Fire Nation Guard, she noted the look of surprise in his eyes as she gave him a quick Fire Nation bow.

Yugoda and Maraka were quite surprised at Katara's reaction. As far as they knew, Katara and Aang were happy together with no problems and were just waiting for Aang to hit sixteen before they got married. But looking at the scene before them... they gave each other a knowing as they looked at the girl beside the prince's bed. Hanzu watched the scene with a small smile. He had known of the prince's latent feelings for the waterbender, even though the prince himself may not have been aware of them. The Fire Lord himself had talked to him about it one day as they reminisced about the good old days, over a good game of Pai Sho, when he was famed general and Hanzu was leader of the Rough Rhinos before Mongke took over at the "request" of Fire Lord Ozai. It was actually Hanzu who had discovered the dozens of letters in Zuko's desk addressed to the waterbender but never sent.

It was Maraka who finally broke the silence by addressing Katara. "Lady Katara, I believe that you were the one to treat the wound originally, correct?"

Katara nodded numbly as memories of that terrible night replayed in her head...

- - - oOo - - -

After Zuko had taken the lightning strike for her and she had taken care of Azula, she had rushed to his side. Seeing his blood all over the plateau, with the extensive burning up and down his arms, her tears redoubled and began to drip onto him as she fell to her knees by his side.

"Don't... don't be sad" Zuko managed to choke out as a bit of blood trickled out of his mouth. "Don't cry, you're going to be okay."

A sad smile crossed Katara's face as tears began to fall freely from her face. "Don't die on me, Zuko, not now."

"I won't, Katara." As the words left Zuko's mouth, he knew them to be false. As she grabbed water and forced it into his chest, Zuko began to feel less and less, as if he was floating from his body. Katara could feel his heartbeat slowing down from its usual slow pace. Zuko had always had a slow heartbeat, said Toph, and so did Iroh. In fact, Toph had said that every firebender that she had met had had a slower heartbeat than she expected.

"Damn it, Zuko, you don't to die on me!" she cried as the tears fell from her face onto his wound, adding to her healing reservoir. "Don't you damned doe on me!" As she pressed her lips to his rapidly cooling ones, the world started fading from her vision until there was just a shadow of glowing light from her water.

"_Katara?" Katara turned around and saw Zuko behind her, crouching down to her level. Looking down, all she saw was blackness. Looking around, she could see stars above and a slightly sinister gray mist seeping in from all sides._

"_Zuko!" she cried as she threw herself into his arms, grateful to feel his quiet strength and warm arms surrounding her. As she sobbed into his shoulder, he kept one arm around her and stroked her hair with the other, trying to calm her. After a minute, she turned her waterlogged eyes up to his warm golden eyes. "Are you...are _we_... dead?"_

"_You're not, Katara. As for me..." he turned her so that she could see behind her. In the distance, there came a warm yellow and reddish glow. "My family comes for me. You have to go back now, Katara. You can't save me."_

"_No!" she yelled, grabbing him closer. "You can't die! You just saved my life! That makes you a hero, and heroes never die!"_

"_I'm sorry, Katara, I really am. But this is just the way things play out. Tell Uncle and Toph that I love them. And Katara, I want you to do something for me: find my mother. I know that you promised me that we'd find her together, but I can't. Tell her everything."_

"_NO! You can't die, and I can't find her without you. You can tell her everything, but you can't give up on life, Zuko. Whatever happened to the Zuko that I knew? The one that would never give up on anything?"_

"_Katara, some things are inevitable. Uncle always told me that death is just the start of another journey. I'll look to see if I can't find my mother here: there's no telling if Ozai was telling the truth about her even being-"_

_The rest of Zuko's sentence was cut off as Katara grabbed his hair and pulled his lips to her own. Kissing Zuko was everything like she had imagined it to be. His lips, coarsened by the intense heat of his Agni Kai, mixed with an incredible warmth that came from deep within him, and his scent, a mixture of smoke, sweat and masculinity, rolled over her senses. As she held him to her, crying the whole time, a rumbling came from deep within the ground. Breaking apart, Katara didn't have time to blush as a massive stone wall shot up from the now knee-high vapours and blocked Zuko's ancestors from claiming him. Looking around, they saw the stars slowly turn green and blue. A pair of figures slowly rose from the mist as Katara gasped in recognition._

"_Oma and Shu..."_

"_Who?" Zuko turned back to her, blushing slightly from the intense kiss._

"_Oma and Shu... the eternal lovers. Said to guard over all those destined to be true loves."_

"_Us? True loves?"_

"_Yes, Fire Prince." The two figures spoke simultaneously, almost as if they shared thoughts. "For too long has the balance of the Elements been disrupted, and your death was not part of the plan. Your relationship would have brought an era of unrivalled peace to the planet." Turning to Katara, the woman asked "what would you give for the Prince to be restored to life?"_

"_Anything!" she responded without hesitating "Just don't let him die!"_

"_Are you sure? Think carefully: if you go down this river, there is no swimming back, waterbender."_

"_Anything! Just don't let him die!"_

"_Very well" The woman, Oma, rested her hand on Katara's chest as her lover, Shu, placed his hand on Zuko's. Closing their eyes as they concentrated briefly, when they opened them they shone a sacred light, brighter and somehow purer than the Avatar State. "Let it be known that these mortals willingly choose themselves to be bound, heart and soul, for now and for the ages."_

_Katara felt a slight tug at her breast that increased in intensity until she literally fell to her knees. A bright blue glow sped up Oma's arm, travelled through her and then into Shu's arm, and ploughed straight into Zuko, knocking him back._

"_It is done. But there is a price to be paid for this, mortals."_

"_I accept." Katara said strongly, not regretting in the slightest, although she was rather curious about what they meant by 'bound'". Zuko was alive, that was all that mattered to her at that moment._

"_You will have no memory of this event until we deem it. All you will know is that you managed to save him. You will have no recollection of this bond being formed." Oma and Shu suddenly slipped into an archaic bending form and the ground opened up beneath them._

Katara opened her eyes and saw Zuko's wound being closed by water that looked suspiciously like the Spirit Water that she had used on Aang. Tears began falling afresh as she saw Zuko's eyes open a fraction before closing and opening again, this time completely. She felt a jolt of energy as their eyes locked, and she got the sudden urge to kiss him. Don't be silly, Katara. That's just the adrenalin talking. I mean, he did just save your life.

Zuko saw a hint of bright light when he tried to open his eyes, so he let them adjust before he locked eyes with Katara. He felt a jolt of energy, and he was somehow sure that she felt it as well. Seeing her bow her head and blush, Zuko managed to lift his hand and gently stroke her hair. "Thank you, Katara."

With a chocked sob, she managed to respond "I think that I'm the one that should be thanking you"

- - - oOo - - -

Blinking away her tears, she told them what she remembered. "All I can remember is kneeling down next to him and telling him not to die on me. Then I think that I blacked out for a second, and, when I came to, Zuko's wound seemed to be healed. He was weak, yes, and I tried to do more for him, but he seemed to make a full recovery in a remarkably short time."

"Well, you clearly did something wrong" all the heads in the room turned to Maraka, who seemed almost shocked at herself for making such a rude comment. "What I mean is, how did he lose control of the lightning? Lord Iroh said that he could find nothing wrong with his technique"

"I don't... I don't know!" Katara yelled as tears began to fall from her eyes and onto the man beneath her. "All I remember is what I told you! I don't even know _how_ I healed him. I didn't have nearly enough training to heal something of that magnitude, yet somehow, I did." As Yugoda and Maraka moved over to comfort her, only Hanzu noticed what the others hadn't, in all their emotional turmoil. He saw the tears that had fallen on Zuko briefly glow a silvery-blue before sinking into his skin. A moment passed before the prince moved his arm.

"Healers!" Hanzu yelled. "There's a time and place for everything, but the prince just moved."

All three of the women immediately dashed to the pallet as Katara held his hand. Zuko's eyelids twitched, before slowly opening. His voice, hoarse from disuse, managed to croak out a single word before he fell asleep. Katara's heart leapt as she heard what he said.

"Katara?..."

- - - oOo - - -

A/N: ...and there's every Zutarian's MANDATORY lightning bolt scene. Or, at least, my take (for this fic) on it. Holy CRAP this is turning out longer than I thought: let's put it this way – Zuko was supposed to wake up in the middle of LAST CHAPTER. If you guys want to see any more of any of the OCs (or the original characters), don't hesitate to ask and I'll try to squeeze 'em in best I can. Also, about the Healer "ranks", if you're familiar with the phases of the moon, they should be easy to figure out. For those not familiar, here's the rough ranks:  
New Moon: Just trained (Katara in the series after she figures out HOW to heal (The Deserter))  
Crescent Moon: Katara after training with Yugoda (SotN)  
Quarter Moon: middling rank, most healers never pass this rank: also certified to teach healing  
Gibbous Moon: the elite among the healers (Maraka's rank)  
Full Moon: The highest rank, only one in the world (like the "queen" of healing)


	5. V: An Awakening, of Sorts

A/N: Just a fluff-tacular chapter here. No real plot. I officially LOVE Hahn. If you've ever wanted to write a smug asshole, choose Hahn brandCopyright Asshole. Ice cold arctic fox-wolves, and without all the nasty terrorist insinuations of similar products (see: Jet brand Assholes). Also, once again, a thousand thanks to AnnaAza, for spell-checking this chapter.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Avatar. I do, however, own the plot line of this increasingly convoluted fanfiction.

**Healing Lightning**

Chapter V: An Awakening, of Sorts

It had been two days since Zuko had first woken up from his coma. Katara had stayed by his side as much as possible. She didn't know why, but she felt... _something_, some tenuous thread that seemed to connect her with the injured Firebender. She realised that it had always been present, a faint hint of _something else_, but it was stronger when he was physically here. Brushing his hair away from his face with a gentle touch, she smiled as he stirred and leaned into her hand. Hearing her own stomach rumble, she got up and nodded to Hanzu and Maraka, who were glaring at each other from opposite sides of the room. Ducking slightly as she walked through the door, she couldn't help but wonder at the source of the extreme animosity in between the two older benders.

Waiting until Katara had left the room and was well out of earshot, Hanzu finally opened his mouth. "Still a tad bitter, I can see."

"Shut your trap, firebender. This is your fault!"

"My fault? How in the world do you figure that this is my fault? I wasn't even in the palace when the Prince had his accident."

"I'm not talking about the Prince, and you damn well know that."

"Look, if this is about us..."

"There _is_ no us, Hanzu. You made that abundantly clear back in the Fire Nation." Throwing up her hands in defeat, she glared at him anew. "Get out. I can't concentrate with you in here, so just... leave."

With his frown marginally growing, the armoured firebender walked from the medical bay, reaching inside his pocket for the small scroll that Fire Lord Iroh had slipped into his baggage. He hadn't had a chance to read it yet, but he had an ominously bad feeling about the contents of the scroll. He stopped abruptly as he realised that he had reached the chambers that Arnook had granted him. Setting the scroll on its end, he sat on his pelt-covered slab of ice that served as his bed and looked at the scroll_. I wonder what it could say... is it secret Fire Nation documents? A secret medicine that the Prince must take? A final will?_ Deciding to sleep on it, he slowly started removing his armour and setting it on the wooden stand that he had brought from the Fire Nation. Once he had stripped down to a light shirt and pants, he grabbed a panther-wolf fur at his bedside and dragged it on top of him so he could sleep for an hour or two.

- - - oOo - - -

"So... where have you been, hmmm?"

Turning around, Katara saw her least favourite person in the pole. "Hello, Hahn. Can't find any other girls to torment?"

"None as beautiful as you, Katara." With an exaggerated wink, Hahn quickly stepped up beside her and captured her arm in his own. "We both know that you find me _devastatingly_ attractive."

Pushing him away, Katara managed to free her arm. "Leave me alone Hahn, I'm very busy."

"What are you doing, anyways? I haven't seen you for days. Rumour has it that you've been sitting night and day by the bedside of Yugoda's newest long-term _male_ patient. Surely you haven't been cheating on me, have you?"

"For your information, Hahn, Zuko is a very dear and old friend. And you're NOT my boyfriend."

"Wait...Zuko as in the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation?"

Realising that she had said too much, Katara cringed. _Sorry, Zuko_. Staring down imperiously at him, she gave Hahn the infamous Katara stare. "Yes, Hahn, _that _Zuko. Do you have an issue with that?"

"Actually, I do. How can you care about the Fire Nation scum? They're the reason that the world is such a mess. And you've picked the worst of them. He's of _Sozin's blood_. Do you even know what that means?"

"You don't know him, Hahn. After all, if I judged people based on who their family was, I'd actually like you. You weren't there when he taught Aang Firebending. You weren't there when he helped us overthrow his own father. You weren't there when he..." _saved my life_. By unsaid consent, neither she nor Zuko had told anyone about what had happened that day. All that they had told people was that Zuko had intercepted the lightning badly and that she had finished off Azula. Nobody knew that he had saved her.

But that was who Zuko was. Aang would have blown her out of the way, or raised a wall of stone to take the blast. But Zuko... Zuko would put her life before his own, regardless of how much the world needed him. _Wait... why am I comparing Zuko and Aang? Aang's my boyfriend, and Zuko is... what? What can I possibly classify him as?_

Hahn noticed that her eyes had lost some of their typical focus and she had a faint blush on her cheeks. "When he what? Katara?"

Snapping back to attention, her blush instantly doubled. "Sorry, Hahn. When he... _Spirits, what can I say_... saved my father from a Fire Nation prison."

Hahn looked at her with a flat look on his face. "So? So he broke someone out of jail. Do you have any idea how many people that his family put in there? Do you know how many people didn't even make it to the prisons?" His face suddenly grew ice-cold. "My older brother among them."

Shocked, Katara raised a hand to her mouth. "Hahn... I didn't know..."

"It's not something that I like to talk about. He was a Waterbender on the Wall when the Fire Nation attacked three years ago. He was killed by a trebuchet the second day of fighting. I hear that he died instantly."

Leaning towards Hahn, she embraced him. "It's okay, Hahn... we've all lost someone. You, me, Aang, Zuko..."

Pushing her to arm's length while keeping his hands on her arms; he looked her dead in the eyes, glacial blue matching against oceanic depths. "What."

Blushing again, she fiddled with a stray lock of hair. "It's not really something that's well known, but... Zuko's mom disappeared when he was ten. No one knows where she left. No one even knows if she's alive."

"She probably left because he was a monster, just like the rest of th-"

Pushing his arms away from her, Katara brought her hand back and slapped him across the face. "How dare you. How _dare_ you. He has done more to ensure peace than you ever will. He's been working hard to ensure peace while you've been sitting pretty over here, living off your family. You didn't even participate in the war!" Spinning around, she threw up her hands and stalked off towards the palace. When Hahn called to her to wait up, she abruptly spun around and sunk him hip deep into the ground, eyes blazing. Turning her nose up at him, she resumed her walk back to the palace.

- - - oOo - - -

Zuko was walking.

He couldn't tell exactly where he was walking, but he was positive that it wasn't the familiar halls of the Palace. It looked exactly the same – there was that painting that Iroh had commissioned last year of Ran and Shao encircling him (where Iroh found a painter for it, he would never know), but everything was in varying shades of black, grey and white. There was a prevalent grey mist lurking around every corner and he kept walking the same corridors again and again and again.

He had stalked the halls, and the only traces of color that he had found had been in the Central Courtyard, the scene of his Agni Kai against Azula. There, in the courtyard, were two colors. A small pool of red, where he had fallen after taking the lightning bolt for Katara, and surrounding it were tiny spots of blue. It had taken Zuko a few minutes to figure out what they were – he realised that they must have been Katara's tears.

He paused once more in the courtyard. It was nice, seeing the two colors together. They were, after all, his two favourite colors. Crouching down, he ran his fingers along the two inter-mingled colors. The two colors started glowing and Zuko tried to back away, but his fingers were somehow stuck to the stone floor of the courtyard. Suddenly, his vision seemed to zoom into the glow and he found himself lying on some soft material, while his face was cold. Opening his eyes, he caught what must have been twin windows into the ocean. Drawing in a ragged breath, he managed to croak out the name of the only person he had ever seen whose eyes looked like that.

"Katara..."

With a content smile in his eyes, he drifted off into a deep, dreamless sleep.

_I'm with her, I'm safe now..._

- - - oOo - - -

Hanzu finally couldn't stand it any longer. After his nap, he had sat up and stared at the scroll for hours. Getting up, he stomped over to the scroll, steaming ever so slightly, and broke the seal. Rolling it open, his eyes scanned the contents. Clenching his hands in anger, he muttered under his breath. "Thanks, Iroh. That would have been useful a week and a half ago." He walked off out of the room, grabbing his armour and weapons, and called for a nearby guard.

"You! Guard! Come duel with me – I'm in need of practice."

As he walked down the corridor, the scroll fluttered off the table and unrolled onto the floor. On the paper, written in Iroh's beautiful flowing script, it said:

_-Hanzu_

_Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned._

_From the desk of Fire Lord Regent Iroh_

- - - oOo - - -

A/N: Now, I don't ordinarily pimp fics, but every now and then you get a truly fantastic story that you have to share with everybody. It's called "_Better Left Unsaid_", and it's by Lady Azar de Tamaren. Read it. I'm serious. You won't be disappointed.

Unless you hate Iroh/Zuko.


End file.
